In a three-hour meeting last Tuesday, David Smith, the owner of Sinclair Media Group, told employees that he'd read the paper four times in the last few months and told them they'd have to up their game.

In partnership with conservative commentator Armstrong Williams, Smith bought the venerable Sun for "nine figures."

Williams indicated that their mission is to promote actual journalism instead of serving a partisan agenda.

Williams told Journal-isms Monday night that his role will be “whatever I want it to be,” and that he and Smith’s longtime business and personal relationship means that it doesn’t matter what size financial stake Williams has in the enterprise, the two share the same goals and will work together.

“There are no egos,” Williams said. The size of Williams’ stake was not disclosed, but it is rare for an African American businessman to have such an ownership interest in a mainstream newspaper.

“We just want to get back to journalism,” Williams added, saying the priority will be providing coverage to places in the region that have been relatively neglected. “We will be hiring,” he said. “We want our reporters on the ground.”

Williams also said, “We want to show that newspapers can work if you have the right partnership. I couldn’t have a better partner than David Smith.”

Smith, who also purchased other media outlets in Maryland, echoed Williams’ sentiments.

Smith decided to personally buy the newspaper, along with the Capital Gazette papers in Annapolis, Carroll County Times, Towson Times and several other Baltimore-area weeklies and magazines, because of the publications’ focus on local news in the Baltimore area.

“I’m in the news business because I believe … we have an absolute responsibility to serve the public interest,” Smith said in an interview. “I think the paper can be hugely profitable and successful and serve a greater public interest over time.

“We have one job, to tell the truth, present the facts, period. That’s our job.”

Local news outlets have been suffering over the past decade. There are likely a myriad of reasons for this, but the fact that many of these organizations essentially function as propaganda mills probably has much to do with it. Moreover, some of these companies have failed to keep up with the new digital age in media.

As more people consume alternative media on the internet, right-leaning voices have used it as a way to subvert the leftist hold over legacy news outlets. Digital media has been instrumental in helping conservatives and libertarians get around the gatekeeping that goes on with more traditional news outlets, which tend to favor left-wing activists over actual journalists.

In buying the Sun, Smith and Williams could be laying the groundwork for something bigger. This purchase provides a blueprint that might show how right-leaning voices can get even more influence on the local and national stage. Buying these outlets could become a game changer just like Elon Musk buying X, formerly known as Twitter, and doing away with much of the politically biased censorship practices.

If there are enough right-leaning wealthy individuals and entities, they could easily gobble up some of the more mainstream news outlets across the country. In this way, they could possibly save the newspaper industry, especially if they focus on reporting actual news without the partisan spin.

As the progressive powers that be struggle to silence opposing voices, folks on the right have a prime opportunity to push back by taking over as many outlets as they can. One of the reasons why progressivism has been able to advance its destructive agenda in American society is because folks on the right surrendered media and academia to the left. Now, they finally have a chance at taking back the press.